Ugandan First Lady laments rate of child mortality in Africa

Kampala- Uganda (PANA) -- The First Lady of Uganda, Jeannette Museveni, said she was moved by the great number of African children who die every day from curable diseases like diarrhoea, simply for lack of water and sanitation.
"Each day, 2,000 small Africans die from diarrhoea, while the use of toilets wit h all the hygiene and health conditions can reduce the mortality rate related to this disease by 90 per cent," a communique issued Monday in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, by Mrs.
Museveni on the sidelines of the 15th summit of the African Uni o n (AU), said.
The summit, in which about 40 heads of state and government are taking part, is centered on "maternal, neonatal and child health and development in Africa".
The African heads of state are not making their first commitments in the sense o f guaranteeing basic services in the medium term, the communique stressed, recal l ing the 2008 summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, on water and sanitation.
"Within five years from its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the objective o f reducing the number of victims of the lack of water and sanitation by half wil l not be achieved before the next 200 years in the south of the Sahara," the comm u nique lamented, quoting Yunia Musaazi of "WaterAid's East Africa Policy and Advo c acy Adviser".